


Under Your Spell

by ltgmars



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Discrimination, M/M, Magic, Neighbors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-10-10 16:27:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17429420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ltgmars/pseuds/ltgmars
Summary: Nino is a magic user, but that's not what this story is about.





	Under Your Spell

**Author's Note:**

> Written for rainbowemperor during Nino Exchange 2018, originally posted [here](https://ninoexchange.dreamwidth.org/101724.html).
> 
> There's a bit of fantasy and a bit of neighbors in this. I was certainly in a mood when I wrote this, but I hope you find it enjoyable. <3 Thanks to the usual suspects for being amazing cheerleaders throughout this entire process.

Jun first meets him in the corridor, slim arms squeezed around sheets of half-shredded cardboard, bags of used packing tape levitating behind him like ducklings. Jun blinks as he processes what he's seeing. As his senses come back to him, he realizes that his hand is still on his key, but he can't remember whether he's locking or unlocking his front door. Then he feels the rumbling in his throat, hears a voice that sounds vaguely like his own, breathy and full of wonder like a magic spell: "Yer a wizard, Harry."

The stranger looks up at him then, face soft but eyes sharp. He shrugs a shoulder, readjusting his grip on the cardboard, and his lips curl into a playful smirk. "I prefer the term sorcerer."

.

His name is Ninomiya, and he lives in the room on the other side of the hall. His apartment is like a mirror image of Jun's, but larger, and there's a scattering of boxes lined up at not-quite 90° angles that Jun notices when he first walks in. He nudges some boxes snug against the wall as he passes.

"You have a roommate?" Jun asks once he gets into the living room, eyeing the set of sliding doors to what must be the second bedroom.

"I do, but he's not being very helpful today." Ninomiya points at a corner of the living room, indicating the stack of boxes he wants Jun's help with. Jun sees him then, a modest-looking grey cat with a round, fluffy face. The cat peers up at Jun in what can only be described as dignified disinterest, before turning away to venture into unexplored corners of the room.

Jun shifts the box at the top of the stack, tearing the packing tape down and off in one swift motion. Cat toys and trinkets, a still-shiny metal food bowl with the name _Oh-chan_ carefully etched into the side. Jun chuckles. "Oh-chan, then? Of course you have a cat."

He can almost feel it with the way the air shifts around him, Ninomiya rolling his eyes high into his head and back down again. "Is that a stereotype thing? Magic users and their cats." His words lack the friendly lilt they'd had a moment ago, when Ninomiya had told him that the fee for ogling was to help him unpack. "I'm more of a dog person anyway."

"Sorry," Jun mutters, suddenly feeling awkward and exposed, like he's 16 all over again and his entire heart is worn on his gangly sleeves. He looks over at Ninomiya sheepishly. All he wants is to make a new friend without upsetting him.

Ninomiya smiles at him then, visibly softening. "Do you like cats?"

Jun grins then, sharp and playful. "Cats don't seem to like me."

Ninomiya chuckles before turning his attention back to the box on the floor in front of him, his body curling impossibly into itself like a feline gymnast. "You'll be fine, then," he says, and Jun doesn't know him at all, but he's so inclined to believe him. Ninomiya pushes at a corner of the box, moving it into an odd angle before pushing it back into place, seeming to ponder his next move. He scrapes at a stretch of packing tape with snubby fingers, and almost as if it's a new conversation topic altogether, he remarks, "Oh-chan isn't a normal cat."

.

The breakroom is much less a room and much more a collection of creaky folding chairs around a banged-up table in a corner of the office. But there's only so many of them in the editing department anyway; it serves its purpose.

Jun drums his fingertips against the table, full of nervous energy as he watches Toma take a seat across from him. Toma passes him a paper cup of coffee, and Jun nods his thanks, fingers switching to tap-tap a beat against the drink instead.

Toma smirks. "What is _with_ you? Don't tell me you're getting married or something."

Jun feels his eyes widen despite himself, but he quickly regains his composure and leans in, as if he's sharing something scandalous and exciting. Toma leans in to meet him halfway, smile curious.

"A _wizard_ moved in next door," Jun hisses through a grin.

Toma lifts an eyebrow and immediately retreats, his chair squeaking with him as he plucks his coffee up for a sip. "What, is that all? You've met wizards before. I did that piece on the magic user community housing that you helped me with?" It's not typical for editorial staff to write their own features, but when you're a small local events paper and everyone wears three or four hats, bodies go where they must and use the words that they can to fill the pages.

"Well, I don't know. This guy's different." Jun feels petulant, like he's trying to make a point without knowing what his point is. "He doesn't seem to use his wi-- ah, 'sorcerer'. What's the difference anyway?" he mutters to himself.

"Is that what he wants to be called? That's the difference."

Jun tilts his head slightly. "I guess so."

Toma huffs out a sigh, placing his empty coffee cup gently on the table. "You're a good guy, MatsuJun, and I know you're trying, but you still have a long way to go with these kinds of issues." He meets Jun's gaze directly. "Be good to this guy, okay? His magic abilities are part of who he is, but he's a human being with a full life like the rest of us. Don't trap him into any categories he doesn't want to be in."

The next sip of Jun's coffee tastes more bitter than the last. Dutifully, he swallows it down.

.

Oh-chan proves to be different from other cats after all. He's flopped over onto his side, letting Jun pet him -- _letting Jun_ pet _him!_ Jun's fingers trace absently down a line along his torso where fur hasn't grown in, unnoticeable under the rest of the lush grey except by touch.

Ninomiya returns from the kitchen with two bottles of beer, already uncapped and sweaty, and when Jun looks up to see Nino's soft cheeks and sharp jawline, he suddenly feels the same.

"I found him in the park," he hears Ninomiya say. His lips are slightly chapped and have a natural curve to them and Jun can't stop staring. It takes a long moment for his brain to catch up to the next words he hears. "He was bleeding from the side, so I took him to a friend who's a doctor. Took him home after that." Jun gets the feeling that there's something about this story he's not understanding, but who can blame him when Ninomiya is magnificently handsome in front of him? It's not like he's a runway model, but there's something to be said about the literal boy next door with approachable good looks.

Maybe Ninomiya's cast a spell on him, Jun thinks idly to himself. And then he hears Toma's words from earlier in the week, and he reminds himself not to fixate.

Ninomiya leans in closer, stretching an arm across Jun's knee to tickle Oh-chan under his chin. Oh-chan shifts his head happily, and Ninomiya's lips curl up into a fond smile. Jun can see exactly where he'd put his lips if he had the chance, along the expanse of Ninomiya's neck. Maybe Ninomiya would tilt his head back and let Jun keep going. Maybe he'd make some soft noise and his hands would be in Jun's hair, encouraging.

Ninomiya's staring at him when Jun finds himself again. And then Ninomiya's eyes slip down to Jun's lips and back up again, and Jun can barely swallow past the lump in his throat.

This has nothing to do with magic.

.

Now that Sho's started doing work full-time for the Magical Rights Group, they only get to see him whenever they fit into his meticulously detailed schedule. But what's great about Sho is that he's as dedicated to his friends as he is to his work. They fit into his schedule every first and third Wednesday, for their so-called "Editors' Night Out".

"All right, Matsumoto," Sho says even before Jun can take his seat at their usual table. "Spill."

Jun isn't sure what he's supposed to be spilling, but one look at Toma very adamantly not looking back at him, taking his seat and enthusiastically admiring the layout of the restaurant they've been to a hundred times, tells him everything he needs to know.

"What have you heard?" Jun asks cautiously, not taking his eyes off Toma.

Toma answers, finally meeting Jun's gaze with a cheeky smirk. "That you have a magical boyfriend you can't stop talking about."

"Stop calling him that. Also, he's not my boyfriend."

"But it's true that you can't stop talking about him."

Jun opens his mouth to deny it, closes it again when he realizes he can't.

Sho, always so good at diffusing embarrassing situations, takes the opportunity to call a waiter over for their usual first drink order. And then he turns to Jun, looks him straight in the eye, and says, "But you want to bone him."

Jun? Jun just wants to die.

He waits until Toma's hollering laughter dies down before doing as told, because what senpai says goes. He spills, everything there is to know, about how Ninomiya is a JR station attendant who'd moved into Jun's apartment building a few weeks ago, that he has a cat and magical powers but seems to prefer manually lying around with the former over using the latter. He looks small and soft but his sense of humor is sharp, and he has a nice voice that Jun hears sometimes when he's humming to himself without realizing it, and he's what Jun looks forward to at the end of every day, and his jawline is to die for, and his giggles are like when a simmering pot of water finally starts to boil, dancing and joyous... and Jun is far too sober to be rambling this badly already. He ducks his head and reaches for his drink.

Sho rolls the ice around in his glass, continues the conversation naturally. "But it's funny that he has a whole extra bedroom just for his cat."

Jun hums in acknowledgment. He'd thought the same when they'd first met, briefly, but he's since found that he has a hard time focusing on the details when Ninomiya is in the same room.

"It's also funny that he doesn't really use his magic, isn't it?" he says instead. "If I had magical powers, I'd use them all the time." This is something he _does_ wonder about, probably more often than necessary.

"You know," Sho says, fixing his gaze on Jun, "people don't have magical powers just for your amusement." He has a smile on his face, somewhat distant, and Jun is suddenly reminded of when Toma had chastised him weeks ago.

Jun frowns, more to himself than at anyone else. He _knows_ , intellectually.

Ninomiya's face comes to mind then -- a memory from a few nights ago, when he'd come over to Jun's place with a Ghibli movie and a bottle of red wine. "Movie night," Ninomiya had declared, so unremarkable, so startingly normal and everyday. Jun had found himself wanting it every night.

Jun sighs, looks between Toma and Sho, and nods.

In the end, all Jun wants is to get to know Ninomiya better.

.

They have a special knock now, to signal who's at the door. It's not as though Jun gets a lot of unexpected company, but it gives him a warm feeling to know that their relationship has developed to the point where they have a special _something_ together. He's still waiting for the day they graduate from calling each other by their surnames, but really, they've only been neighbors for a month. Maybe once they're no longer just neighbors. Even if Ninomiya just calls him "MatsuJun" like everyone else does, that'll be more than enough.

In due time, Jun thinks (hopes) to himself. He knock-knockity-knock-knocks on the door.

"It's open!" he hears Ninomiya call from inside. "Come-- oh wait, Oh-chan--"

The door opens on its own, and before Jun can be delighted at the idea that Ninomiya's finally used more magic in front of him, he finds himself face to face with a man he's never seen before, shirtless, sleepy-eyed and pouty-lipped. The man opens the door wider, silently stepping aside to let Jun in.

Jun stands speechless at the door, and finally, Ninomiya comes into view, a steaming bowl of rice in his hand.

Jun has to try a few times before he can say anything. "I... didn't realize you had company..." he forces out, barely hearing himself. He can't even be sure if he's actually making word noises or if the blood rushing through his veins is drowning out sound altogether.

Ninomiya's eyes widen for a moment, and then he smirks playfully. It reminds Jun of the first day they met, and somehow that makes it worse. Jun notices a high-pitched ringing in his ears. Is this the sound of his heart breaking?

Ninomiya's lips move, and Jun has to concentrate hard for the words to properly register.

_It's okay, Matsumoto-san. You've met._

.

Jun gets the abridged version, and it makes his head spin: his name is Ohno Satoshi, and he is? was? actually human; half a year ago, he was mistaken for someone else and stabbed in a park at night, and he was about to be killed because he saw the perpetrator's face until Ninomiya happened to come through the park; Ohno was bleeding out, so he agreed to let Ninomiya turn him into a cat for the time being, but they decided to leave him like that permanently for Ohno's safety; Ohno stays in cat form except on nights of a new moon, because Ninomiya's magic is sun-based and when there isn't any sunlight reflected off the moon at night, it requires effort to maintain magical spells that he's cast; Ohno doesn't mind not having to work, and he's officially dead except to family and close friends, who make time to visit every few months; as a cat, his favorite food is tuna.

If Jun had gotten this in written form, he'd have to read it over a few times to wrap his mind around everything.

"I." He clears his throat; his mouth is desert-dry. "I have so many questions."

They spend the rest of the night talking, because Oh-chan is actually Ohno and he can speak for himself. They drink like they usually do, except that it's the work of three people instead of two. A bottle of whiskey floats between them along a sea of empty beer cans, the lazy lulls of conversation lapping at their feet. It doesn't take long for Ohno to start nodding off, his mouth and nose twitching, his feet scratching lazily at different parts of his body. Jun notices a thin scar just below his ribs and realizes in a haze that Oh-chan's bald spot is in the same place.

It's quiet and comfortable, the way it has been for the past month with Ninomiya and Jun and Oh-chan. By the end of the night, Ohno feels like an old friend, whose simple presence brings the room a fuzzy, naptime warmth, and Jun begins to understand why he would have chosen to stay as a cat; he'd probably been more cat than human to begin with.

Jun helps Ninomiya bring empty glasses and bottles and cans to the sink. When he turns back to the living room, he sees Ohno watching him. It might be the alcohol, but some part of him decides that now's as good a time as ever to address the one thing he hadn't been able to say out loud that night. He takes a few quick steps toward Ohno, who seizes uneasily.

"Are we rivals?" he asks simply, because Ohno must know what he means, must have noticed over the past month the way Jun looks at Ninomiya.

Ohno visibly relaxes, the tension seeming to slink down from his head and shoulders, out through his toes. He shrugs. "I don't think he sees me in that way. And when you sleep 18 hours a day, you don't really find yourself needing it anyway." He seems to think for a moment. "Though we do sleep together sometimes."

Jun nods slowly. "In both senses of the word," he states, knowing what the answer is.

Ohno nods back. "So if that bugs you."

"Potentially," Jun says, and just as honestly, he continues, "but I am glad you have each other."

Ohno smiles then, lips sealed and eyes nearly so, affection so plain and open on his face. Jun can't even help himself; he reaches up and runs his fingers through Ohno's hair, and Ohno lets his eyes close completely, making a low hum that catches in Jun's throat. What a sweet and beautiful creature, in all forms.

Jun looks across the room to see Ninomiya leaning against the wall, watching them, an unreadable expression on his face. His hand falls and Ohno's eyes flutter open and he swears he has no idea how Ninomiya's suddenly _right there_ , suspended a millimeter away for what feels like nine lifetimes. Jun tries to take a breath but takes in Ninomiya's lips instead.

It's over before it can even begin, Ninomiya stepping away with a calm smile, in direct contrast with the way Jun feels like every cell in his body is on fire. Jun follows numbly as Ninomiya leads him to the door. He steps out into the hallway but doesn't know what to do with his hands or feet or heart, so he looks up at Ninomiya pleadingly.

Grinning like he's finally allowed to share a secret he's been keeping, Ninomiya lifts his brows and whispers, "Goodnight, Matsumoto-san."

.

Aiba Masaki leads the double life of veterinarian by day, Magical Creatures Research Society volunteer also by day. He has a long-running column in the paper offering fun and insightful tidbits into different kinds of magical creatures; the secret to its popularity, according to reader polls, is that Aiba is able to achieve the perfect balance between wonder and wisdom. His appetite for knowledge is ever unquenched, but behind his need to know is his need to _understand_ , to learn how best to interact with magical and non-magical creatures alike on their terms, in the ways that make them feel safest and most respected.

Jun plays baseball with him, which is the only reason he knows that Aiba's aggression goes _somewhere_. Being so wonderful and kind in both professional and private life must be tiring, so if he gets a little too rude and rowdy on the field, well. Jun's just glad they're on the same team.

Aiba eagerly welcomes Jun into his office, books about animals stacked high and wide across multiple shelves. There's also a section on magical creatures, with journal volumes that Aiba has either written for or edited, and a shelf dedicated to the history and politics of magic users around the world. It's this area of the library that interests Jun, because as much as he knows he can always ask Ninomiya (and Ohno when he's Ohno) about this kind of thing, he's realized recently that Ninomiya probably doesn't talk about magic much for a reason. It might not be fair to ask him to be Jun's guru, just because Jun wants to know and Ninomiya's right there.

Aiba sets a steaming mug of green tea down on the table in front of Jun's seat, and he tucks into the chair on the other side, smile warm and inviting. "So tell me what you need to know."

 _Everything._ Jun runs through his mental list of unanswered questions from the night before and picks through one topic at a time: sun-based magic (the strongest type of elemental magic, but with the widest range of highs and lows for magical potency), the relationship between magic users and magical creatures (as expected, it varies by species and humanoid comprehension), political movements around equal rights for magic users (there's equality on paper for the most part, but preexisting attitudes and stereotypes prevail), and more. They're topics that Jun's heard vaguely about by virtue of living in an era in which magic users are more open about their abilities, but he had never taken the time to learn or understand them more deeply.

Aiba also gives him basic information about spells, sliding a thick, dusty book across the table for Jun's perusal. The pages are grainy and worn, half falling out of the binding like the only things holding it together are spit and magic itself. He gingerly makes his way to the shape-shifting section but only finds details about shifting one's own shape, and nothing about turning other people into little grey tabby cats.

Is it the same category? Maybe it isn't even a spell, but rather a curse... but Jun resists the urge to follow that path without a better understanding of the terminology magic users use for themselves. Is there actually a difference between wizards and sorcerers? Does it even matter past what the magic users themselves are asking for?

Jun spends the next two hours nursing these questions, loading his brain with as much knowledge as he can in one sitting. He's still not sure that he understands what he's doing or why he's doing it, but he knows one thing to be true: for taking that first step forward to engage with and learn from the community, he's already a better version of himself today than he was yesterday.

There may never be an achieveable perfect, but Jun doesn't mind being a work-in-progress as long as he knows he's going in the right direction.

Aiba's voice brings Jun out his pensive reverie. "So tell me about your magical boyfriend."

Jun's list of instances for which he has to smack Toma across the head grows exponentially by the day. "He's not..." he starts, but gives up, exasperated. "His name is Ninomiya Kazunari..."

"Oh!" Aiba perks up like the prairie dogs he loves so much. "He's a friend of mine!" because of course Aiba knows everyone in the city, magical or not. "Does that mean you've met Oh-chan? I haven't seen him since the incident, but I hope he's doing well."

It clicks. Aiba is a vet, perhaps _the_ vet that Ninomiya took Oh-chan to after turning him into a cat. It's such a small world.

"How does he like being a cat?" Aiba continues. "I miss seeing him as a human, but this is for the better, right?" Jun's eyes widen for a brief moment, and then he shakes his head in wry resignation, saving the jigsaw puzzle of new information for later tonight, when he gets the chance to sit down and sort out all of the pieces on his own.

Aiba has an old portrait from years ago, taken at the Ohno and Aiba family annual barbecue, which he's pulled out from the back of his day planner to show Jun. It's a nice photo, smiling families gathered around a picnic table, people who don't know then that years down the line, their son will have lost his human form, fated to spend the rest of his years as a cat companion to one Ninomiya, not-quite-boyfriend of the man who's visiting Aiba's office to learn more about magic awareness.

 _Such_ a small world.

.

The next evening, Ninomiya shows up at Jun's door, Nintendo Switch in hand. Jun leads him to the couch, where Ninomiya curls up next to them, and they play _Mario Kart_ for a few hours until the battery runs out. Ninomiya stretches like a cat, his back working into a languid arch that will haunt Jun's dreams for months. (Idly, he wonders if Ninomiya's accidentally picking up habits from Ohno, but he leaves that thought alone.) Neither of them moves to get up, their legs pressed together, and Jun realizes that Ninomiya has strangely long legs for someone his height. Maybe it's a proportions thing, and before he realizes it, he's thinking all about Ninomiya's proportions. The heat from Ninomiya's thigh starts to make its way up to Jun's groin.

"Ninomiya-san," Jun says, voice low. Jun wants to touch him more, but he doesn't move, barely lets himself breathe.

Ninomiya seems to wait for a moment before turning and placing a soft kiss on Jun's jaw, just below his ear. Jun sucks in a hard breath then, unconsciously turning his head, asking for more. Instead, Ninomiya simply hums, "Sorry, I missed," and he moves to get up, planting a soft kiss on Jun's cheek as he passes by.

Ninomiya turns back to the couch to look at Jun. He looks sleepy, Jun realizes, and it must be because it's still just after the new moon. There might not be a lot of energy at night, with as little sunlight as he's getting right now. But it's okay, Jun thinks. Ninomiya could just come back to the couch and lie there, and Jun would do all the work. He would kiss his way down Ninomiya's chest, running his hands up his proportionally long thighs and back down under his waistband. He would slide his pajama pants down over his hips, take him in his mouth until his cock found the energy to stand on its own. Ninomiya could just lie there and let Jun have his way, and Jun would worship every centimeter of Ninomiya's body, make it worth his while.

Jun blinks. Ninomiya's still looking down at him, and Jun comes back to his senses just as his senses come back to him: his cock is twiching in his pants, and his breath is shallow. One look at Ninomiya tells him that they're both thinking about the same thing, but Ninomiya just shakes his head, a small smile on his face.

"Give me a month, okay?" Ninomiya takes a step forward, placing a small hand on Jun's cheek. "I want this as much as you do, but I need to make sure Oh-chan and I are good, too. Let me talk to him first."

Jun has half a mind to demand that Ninomiya turn him back into a human so that they can have this conversation tonight, right now, and then get back to the part where Jun fucks him senseless. He gets the feeling that if he asked, Ninomiya would do it, but that feeling is enough to calm him down. He just nods, Ninomiya's thumb brushing against his lips.

Ninomiya smiles and leans down for a kiss, longer than the one from the other night. It gives enough time for Jun's body to respond, and before he realizes it, his fingers are sifting through the hair on Ninomiya's nape, and his tongue is slipping out for a taste. Ninomiya makes a noise in the back of his throat, and his mouth opens to meet Jun halfway.

They part, and Ninomiya steps back with a smirk, but his lips are glistening and his eyes are a little unfocused. Jun wants nothing more than to spend the rest of the night making a mess of him.

"Goodnight, Jun-kun," Ninomiya says, and before Jun can even process what he's heard, Ninomiya is stepping away, out of the apartment.

The door clicks closed, and Jun can't help himself. He undoes his pants with fumbling fingers and grabs his cock right there on the couch, bringing himself to full hardness with a few frantic tugs. He pauses to spit on his hand, and he drags his palm across the head of his cock and back down the shaft before setting a shameless pace for himself. He imagines Ninomiya, his eyes dark and full of lust, his mouth glistening with spit and Jun's come. Jun grunts, spilling himself on his clothes, and as he comes down from his high, he gets the strange feeling that Ninomiya just might be in his own bedroom, doing the same thing.

.

Jun is at work when he receives a text from Sho, asking if he and Toma are free for dinner that night. Aiba, whom Sho met both as Jun's friend but also in their work for magical rights, has called for an "emergency meeting", and it is imperative that they all meet tonight to "strategize".

Jun frowns as he rereads the message before sending a reply. _Why isn't Aiba-kun the one texting?_

_IDK he asked me to. He's busy with dogs things apparently._

Jun is almost 100% certain that Aiba had said the actual phrase "I'm busy with dog things". He just huffs at his phone and shouts out to Toma across the room, asking what time would be good to head out together.

When Jun and Toma arrive at the restaurant, busy-with-dog-things Aiba is waiting there eagerly, tail wagging. They only have to wait another 13 seconds before Sho comes in, because in the end Sho had finalized the reservation, which meant that Sho's schedule was rearranged for him to arrive just on time.

Jun's barely taken his seat across from Aiba when the anvil drops. "So what's your plan for banging Nino?"

Jun stares blankly across the table. "Good to see you, too, Aiba-kun." Aiba just grins. "And actually, I think it'll be okay. Nino and I have an understanding." He pauses for a moment before he decides not go into details about Oh-chan. Toma and Sho don't know about him, and it's not really his story to tell. "He has to figure things out with someone he's... involved with right now, but we're in a good place."

It takes him a moment longer to realize that this is the first time he's called Ninomiya anything other than "Ninomiya-san", and he's both regretful and relieved that it isn't when Ninomiya's actually in the room with him.

Sho cuts in then, voice serious, like the words themselves have their brows furrowed. "So does this make you the other woman?"

Jun turns to deadpan at Sho. "I'm going to go with 'no', for at least one major reason."

Sho's face squishes into itself with laughter, and Toma just shakes his head, catching the attention of a waitress for their first round of drinks.

The "emergency meeting" part of the night ends quickly, because there was never an emergency that required a meeting, and the conversation shifts to their own lives. Sho is talking about one of the recent events they held at the Magical Rights Group, and Jun leans in, curious, demands more details about the kinds of policy changes they're campaigning for. He can tell that his arm movements have gotten clumsy, and his words sound louder even to his own ears than they probably need to be. But this is _important_ , and he wants to make sure he understands what's going on with the _community_.

He notices Toma next to him, eyeing him as he chews on a mouthful of fries. He swallows and intones calmly, "You've changed, MatsuJun."

Jun frowns. "What the hell's that mean?" he responds, smacking at his arm. His hand vaguely stings upon impact.

"Ow, shit," Toma mutters. "I meant it as a good thing, you know. You didn't used to care about this kind of thing."

"Sometimes you just meet someone who makes you want to learn more, you know? Be a better person." Jun wonders if he should say this out loud, and realizes a moment later that he already has. Oh well, it's just the truth.

Aiba beams at him, and Toma pretends to gag on his fried chicken. Jun shoves at him, so hard they both almost fall over, and Sho just clucks a "now, now" at them like a fussy mother hen.

.

It's a couple of weeks later that Jun notices the sign on Nino's door, hastily scribbled and torn from a notebook. _Go to hell_ , it says, so classy, followed by a slur about magic users, something Jun himself might have said back before he knew what the deeper implications were. Jun scrapes the sign off the door and crumples it into his pocket. He'll burn this piece of shit even before burnable trash day.

In a bitter haze, he looks up to see Nino standing at the end of the hall with a curious expression on his face. Nino walks toward him, eyeing the angry wad in Jun's pocket briefly before smiling back up at Jun. "Aw, but it fit the decor."

Nino's not interested in politics, he explains as Jun settles in on his couch, warming his hands with the proffered mug of tea. "I was bullied as a kid for being a magic user, even though it wasn't my choice and I didn't do it on purpose." He sits himself on the floor, arms wrapping around his legs, and Oh-chan walks over to curl up against his feet. "I stopped trying to make friends, stopped being invested in issues. You don't get hurt if you eliminate the source from the start."

Nino looks so small and big at the same time, the sleeves of a sweater he'd borrowed from Jun pooling over his knuckles, a quiet resolve in his voice. "People say hurtful things because they're scared of what they don't understand." He looks down and gives Oh-chan scritches behind the ear. "Isn't that right, Oh-chan?"

Oh-chan mewls sweetly. Jun just wants to crawl down to the floor and hug them both.

"Might need to move again soon," Nino says quietly, abruptly interrupting Jun's train of thought.

Jun frowns. It seems a little extreme to go through the hassle of moving after just one sign on his door, but then again, he hasn't lived the life Nino has. He doesn't know what Nino's been through, what it's like to feel unsafe in your own home. He says instead, "Find someplace with an autolocking lobby door."

Nino scoffs. "Like we can afford a two-bedroom in a building with an autolocking door on one salary."

Jun tilts his head and says the first thing that comes to mind, unfiltered like he's out with his friends who've decided it's their duty to ensure that Jun finds his happiness. "What about two salaries?"

The hand that's petting Oh-chan pauses, and then starts again. "You don't even know me."

In terms of the amount of time they've known each other, Nino's not wrong; they've only been neighbors for less than two months. But Jun knows enough, everything he needs to know. Nino's worth taking risks for. Nino's worth the effort. "We don't have to be... anything." Of course, Jun would like to be everything with Nino, but for now... "Sometimes people start living with roommates they've only met once or twice before."

"Roommates," Nino says, slow and deliberate, as if he's turning each of the characters over in his head.

"Roommates," Jun affirms. "Well, at least until the three of us know what we want to do next."

Nino looks down at Oh-chan, who just snuggles even deeper onto Nino's feet. He looks back up at Jun, and there's some kind of twinkle in his eye that makes Jun's heart jump wildly in his chest. "Okay, Jun-kun. We'll talk next week."

.

Jun is in his bedroom, thinking about Nino (when is he not these days?), but also about what Toma had said to him the other night; Jun's changed. Maybe it _is_ a good thing. He looks over at his desk, stacked with books he's borrowed from Aiba, a battered notebook full of things he's learned, concepts to research, questions he has. Ideas, suggestions, ways that he can change his behavior to improve the lives of those around him, magical or not.

It's been a long time since he's been this invested in something. He'll be invested enough to make up for Nino, if he has to.

Jun pads over to his desk, sifting through a row of books until he finds what he's looking for: a different notebook, older. It hasn't been touched in a few years, the yellowed edges evidence of past ambition. He flips through a few pages, his eyes drifting through words he can still say by heart, before turning to the back of the notebook and finding the first empty page.

He pulls out his desk chair, pushes a few clicks of graphite out of his pencil, and begins to write.

.

Ohno's already human by the time Jun stops by on the night of the new moon. He lets himself into the apartment, and Nino and Ohno are sitting on the couch, waiting. It doesn't take more than a smile and a nod, a friendly kiss to Nino's cheek, for Ohno to express how he's feeling. He's happy for Nino, and okay with whatever Nino wants to do.

It's all strangely anticlimactic, Jun thinks to himself as they set up the Switch. Somehow, he had expected a bigger conversation, but then again, it's Ohno. Ohno, who's been watching them the whole time, who's probably more thoughtful than he lets on (though who can ever tell what a cat is truly thinking?). He can tell how serious Jun is about Nino, that Jun wants to be the kind of person worthy of him.

Jun hands Ohno a controller and takes the opportunity to pull him into a tight hug, smoothing his fingers through Ohno's hair. Ohno hums, and then whispers cheekily in Jun's ear, "If you guys ever want a threesome, you know where to find me." He pulls back, eyes glimmering with mischief, and Jun lets his gaze trace over Ohno's long lashes, his cute bangs.

Jun grins gamely like it's a joke, but he tucks the idea into his pocket because he might actually be serious about it.

Ohno is weirdly good at video games, and it kind of pisses Jun off. Ohno explains that his mom plays video games a lot, and that watching Nino helps, too, as if his video game prowess is a genetic trait or a result of osmosis, instead of Ohno's own enfuriating tendency toward quiet, beautiful genius.

.

Nino shows up at Jun's apartment the next night with nothing in his hands; no games or movies or drinks, just him. Jun is giddy with want.

Taking Nino's hand, Jun gently leads him into the apartment, and as the door closes behind him, he turns to say something, anything, he's not sure what. Maybe he just wants to look at Nino.

But Nino's hand has already slipped out of his, and he's already down on his knees right there in the genkan, his fingers working deftly at Jun's belt buckle. Jun curses, his hips twitching involuntarily, and Nino spares a moment to meet his eyes with a smirk before pressing his open mouth to the crotch of Jun's slacks. His hot breath is wicked as it passes through the fabric, straight to Jun's cock.

.

As expected, Toma's comments about the piece Jun's written are warm and encouraging. It's been a while since Jun's written anything, even a letter this short, but Toma makes him feel like his writing's still worth something after all these years.

 _Are you sure you don't want to submit it to the paper?_ They're the editors, after all, and they can probably make space in the "Submissions from the Community" section.

Jun's sure, though. This isn't something he wrote for anyone but himself. Sometimes you just need concrete proof that you're growing, slowly but surely, into a better version of yourself.

.

It's a pleasant spring morning, and Aiba, Sho, and Toma have been enlisted for their company, but more importantly, their extra arms. They have the weekend to move two apartments into one, a bigger one in a nicer building, with an autolocking lobby door. Jun has precise ideas on where everything needs to go in their new place, and Nino and Oh-chan have nodded along graciously. All that's left is to do the actual heavy lifting.

Sho brings pastries from his favorite bakery, and Toma some bottles of tea from the conbini on the way to the station. Aiba has made headbands to show how serious they are about getting this done right, with a matching collar for Oh-chan, because all of their friends are adorable idiots and Jun can't tell if he does or doesn't deserve them.

_Whether or not you believe in love at first sight, it happens. It happens when you least expect it, when your eyes are closed and you're not even looking, like being put under a spell that you don't want to wake up from. I fell in love at first sight, and it was like my entire body was alight, drifting through the air toward a man I didn't know at all but wanted to learn everything about._

_I'm not ashamed to say that I had a lot to learn. The fact that I can acknowledge it now means that I figured out what was missing: a deeper, truer understanding, an all-consuming desire not only to be with this person, but also to learn for myself the kind of person I wanted to become._

_When you don't think about the words you use and the assumptions you make, you risk losing the shades in between. I would have missed them completely, had it not been for the man who literally stopped me in my tracks, encouraged me to truly see what I had only glanced at before._

The sun sets as they're having pizza on the floor of their new living room. They still haven't unpacked their dishes, but Nino had had the foresight to pick up paper plates and napkins because he's perfect and Jun loves him so much.

Sho and Aiba are in the middle of brainstorming ideas for a summer fundraiser when Ohno slinks silently out of his bedroom, stretching his arms lazily above his head. He's wearing an old shirt that Jun had given him because Oh-chan liked it so much. He smiles up at the group. "Finally, now I can have some pizza."

_Here in Japan, we like to think that collectively, we know what's right and wrong. Whatever the majority has decided is hip and cool -- or dark and dangerous -- is what goes. Over the past 34 years, I've had countless stereotypes and assumptions drilled into my head, by my family, by peers, by society as a whole. It's not their fault, and it wasn't mine either. But over the past two months, I've had the privilege of having those stereotypes and assumptions questioned, challenged, deconstructed and boiled down into their simplest forms. Hate, fear, projection, romanticization. As humans, these all come naturally to us; these instincts have kept the species alive for millennia._

_But as important as it is to trust our instincts, it's just as important to think them through. Does this hate truly make sense? What do I gain from fearing something I don't know, when I could learn about it instead?_

"Oh-chan!" Aiba screeches happily, hopping onto his feet, arms outstretched.

"Aiba-chan~" Ohno sing-songs, and they hug tight and rock back and forth.

Sho and Toma sit in shock, staring wide-eyed at the scene above them, pizza half falling out of mouths agape. Nino topples over, and he laughs and laughs and laughs, and he is so, so beautiful.

_I still have a long way to go. It's only been a couple of months, and I know I'll probably spend the rest of my life getting things wrong._

_But the point is that I'm trying. It's not an easy task, reevaluating the way you look at the world, at the people around you, and you'll feel like an idiot more often than not. But if you find the right person, the person you'd do anything for, it's work that's well worth doing._

.

Jun is making dinner in the kitchen, Nino and Oh-chan sitting on the couch with the TV on at a low volume. Jun can hear the pittering of audience laughter carry over from the living room.

"Jun-kun," Nino calls.

"Hm?" Jun adds a dash of pepper.

"Why did you fall in love with me anyway?" It's not a question Nino's asking in earnest, just a topic of conversation; Jun can get embarrassingly wordy in bed, and he's pretty sure Nino has all of the answers he needs.

"Oh, you know." He tosses the pasta in the pan, watching the white sauce catch on the noodles. Satisfied, he steps away for a moment, poking his head into the living room and meeting eyes with Nino. Calm and casual, as if he hadn't been waiting for this question from Nino his entire life, he says, "Because you're... _enchanting_."

Nino stares blankly back at him. "Yeah, I don't think this is going to work out after all."

They both maintain their serious expressions for a moment, but eventually Nino huffs out a laugh and rolls his eyes, turning back to the TV.

Jun grins.


End file.
